Jessica writes:<\/p>\n
I need your help desperately!<\/p>\n
My boyfriend (Weston) and I (Jessica) are expecting our first child, a daughter, in May. It will be my second girl and his third child (1 girl, 1 boy). We have completely opposite naming styles. My daughter\u2019s name is Kennedy Anja (3), his kids are Sonya Ray (6) and Alexander Weston (4). To come up with a name that fits well with her step\/half siblings and that we both agree on has been nearly impossible. At this point we are left with a very (!) short list of names that I think we\u2019re both not really in love with, but meh, they\u2019ll do. How unfair to this poor girl! I really hope you can help!<\/p>\n
Our list of agreed upon names:<\/p>\n
Megan
Stevie<\/p>\nNames I like:<\/p>\n
Felicity
Julia
Jacqueline (although not with Kennedy, lol)
Claudia
Clara
Sadie
Madeline
Hannah<\/p>\nNames he likes:<\/p>\n
Isabel<\/p>\n
(He\u2019s nearly impossible. I think this is his entire list. Everything is a potential nickname to him. I mean, Claudia was nixed due to Claude. Wth?)<\/p>\n
We both want something less common, that won\u2019t make people question how to pronounce it.<\/p>\n
To confuse matters even further, we aren\u2019t yet sure what her last name will be. Either Persson or Spears. More likely Persson. But we can put that aside and just pick a name and hope it flows well with whatever we choose.<\/p>\n
Please help us (if it\u2019s even possible)!<\/p>\n
Thanks!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I am very fond of coordinated sibling names, but a blended family group presents its own interesting challenge. One way to approach it is to think of it as a math equation: we cancel out the input of the parents who helped named the earlier children but will not be helping to name this one, and we combine the remaining elements. Ideally the styles will mesh similarly to the way the genes mesh: the new child will share some<\/span> genes and some<\/span> name-style with all three of her half-siblings.<\/p>\n
Another option is to choose a name from yet another style, for a charming assortment. The name Stevie would do this. But I find that when I run that through my mind, it doesn’t sit well: that particular name makes such a bold statement, and it seems like that’s harder to pull off in an assortment set. Something like Lucy might work better: it has its own style, but at an intensity similar to the other two girls’ names. Sonya, Kennedy, and Lucy seems to me like it hits the “charming assortment” mark—and all three names have a Y.<\/p>\n
Megan seems like it would work well to meet the “blending” option: it’s Celtic-sounding like Kennedy, but completely feminine like Sonya.<\/p>\n
Or Maura, which is Celtic like Kennedy but has more the sound of Sonya.<\/p>\n
Or Molly.<\/p>\n
I suggest Silvie. It’s similar in sound to Stevie, but more similar in style to Sonya. Sonya, Alexander, Kennedy, and Silvie.<\/p>\n
Evie would also give a similar sound to Stevie, but in a version that fits better with the group.<\/p>\n
If he would prefer to avoid nicknames, Isabel is tricky: it has both Izzy and Bella. Ella might work, though: Stevie made me think of Stella, but Stella seems to have too many sounds in common with Sonya; Ella takes one sound-match away, and also resists nicknaming. Sonya, Alexander, Kennedy, and Ella.<\/p>\n
Your idea of Jacqueline makes me think of Jocelyn. I like the way it goes with Alexander and has a vowel sound in common with Sonya, while having a similar rhythm to Kennedy. Sonya, Alexander, Kennedy, and Jocelyn. But maybe that’s too close to Jacqueline, coming right after the name Kennedy like that.<\/p>\n
Are the other children old enough to participate in the naming process? They might enjoy giving input—and may stumble on a great name for her. And if it still wasn’t one you LOVE-loved, it would still have a good loving story attached to it.<\/p>\n
Name update!<\/b> Jessica writes:<\/p>\n
Thank you so much for posting my naming issues! It was amazing to read the your response and all the comments. It was funny to see how readers picked up on the Russian\/Scandanavian connection in our girl names, even funnier to see they suggested Weston’s ex-wife’s name! In the end we went into labor with a short list that hardly included any of the original list. Our number one choice seemed to be Collette… and then we met her and she was no Collette. And so Marlee Danielle Persson was born! Thanks again for choosing my email, it really did help! Sonya, Kennedy, and Marlee sounds like a good charming assortment to me :)<\/p>\n
Thanks! <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jessica writes: I need your help desperately! My boyfriend (Weston) and I (Jessica) are expecting our first child, a daughter, in May. It will be my second girl and his third child (1 girl, 1 boy). We have completely opposite naming styles. My daughter\u2019s name is Kennedy Anja (3), his kids are Sonya Ray (6) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-1Cr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}